Warning! You need to have installed the CivII: Fantastic Worlds disk
for this scenario to work! Otherwise it will NOT do anything for you.




                          THE QUEST FOR ELDORADO
			        Mar 16, 1999
                      
                            by Jess Balsinde 
                           (jbalsinde@ucsd.edu)



"The Quest for Eldorado" is the ninth installment of my series of
scenarios dedicated to Spain's history. You can find them all at the
Spanish Civilization II Site:
          http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1514/Spaciv.htm




A WORD OF WISDOM

This scenario is, most certainly, unlike any other you may have played 
before. Its mechanics, purpose, and objectives, differ dramatically from 
"normal" Civ2 scenarios. It is possible that a number of people feel 
disappointed with this scenario. After nine scenarios I just wanted to 
create something new this time. 




INSTALLATION

As indicated above, this scenario will only work with Civ2 version 
2.7.81, i.e. the one provided by the Fantastic Worlds scenario disk.
Make a new folder under the Scenarios folder. Call it "Eldorado" and
put all the files in it except those with extension .wav (the sounds),
which should be put in a sub-folder called "sound" inside the 
"Eldorado" folder. Now you can play.

I do not have that magical sound setup file yet (Chris, where are you!),
but I will, I will...




BACKGROUND

Lope de Aguirre was one of the most notorious and fascinating figures 
in the conquest of America, a megalomaniac and paranoid Basque soldier 
of iron will who murdered the leaders of the largest Peruvian expedition
to search for Eldorado, descended the Maran, Amazon, and Orinoco rivers
and conquered the island of Margarita (off Venezuela) from the astonished
Spanish settlers. Then he set off to conquer Peru before being finally
killed by his own men near Barquisimeto (Colombia). His story is the 
subject of two celebrated films, one by Werner Herzog ("Aguirre, the Wrath
of God", with Klaus Kinski as Lope), and the other by Carlos Saura 
("Eldorado", with Omero Antonutti as Lope). 

Lope de Aguirre murdered his real or imagined enemies with a ruthlessness
and sadism that still shocks centuries later. The self styled "Wrath of
God" was also the self-made "Prince of Freedom" who played on the resentment
of soldiers who had conquered Peru only to see others appropriate the lion's
share of the spoils. He wrote an extraordinary letter to Philip II of Spain,
the mightiest monarch of his day, in which he recounted and justified each of
his crimes, and then signed it: "Son of faithful vassals from the Basque 
country, and rebel unto death because of your ingratitude, Lope de Aguirre, 
The Wanderer".

Excerpts from this letter appear in the scenario in the form of pop-up
boxes. The entire letter can be found in English at this address:
http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/Latin_America/aguirre.let
Oddly enough, I have not found it in Spanish yet...

What follows is a fragment of Lope's letter, in which he relates his
adventures deep into the Amazonian forest. I believe this fragment 
describes the scenario better than anything else: 

	"In the year 1559 the marquis of Caete entrusted the expedition of
 	the river of the Amazons to Pedro de Ursa, Navarrese, or rather, a
 	Frenchman. This bad governor was so perverse, vicious and miserable 
	that we could not tolerate it, and it was impossible to put up with 
	his evil ways. Since I have a stake in the matter, excellent King and
	lord, I will say only that we killed him; certainly a very serious 
	thing.  We then raised a young gentleman of Seville named Don Fernando 
	de Guzmn to be our king, and we made an oath to him as such. They 
	appointed me their field commander, and because I did not consent to 
	their insults and evil deeds they tried to kill me, and I killed the 
	new king, the captain of his guard, the lieutenant-general, his 
	majordomo, his chaplain, a woman in league against me, a knight of 
	Rhodes, an admiral, two ensigns, and six other of his allies. It was  
	my intention to carry this war through and die in it, for the cruelties 
	your ministers practice on us, and I again appointed captains and a 
	sergeant major. They tried to kill me, and I hung them all.
       
        We went along our route down the Maran river while all these killings 
 	and bad events were taking place. It took us ten and a half months to 
	reach the mouth of the river, where it enters the sea.  We traveled a 
	good hundred days, and traveled 1,500 leagues. It is a large and 
	fearsome river. God only knows how we escaped from such a fearsome 
	river! I advise you, King and lord, not to attempt nor allow a fleet to
	be sent to this ill-fated river, because in Christian faith I swear, 
	King and lord, that if a hundred thousand men come none will escape, 
	because the stories are false and in this river there is nothing but 
	despair, especially for those newly arrived from Spain".




DESIGNER'S NOTES

I hope you have had the patience to read the above fragment. What Aguirre tells
to the King of Spain is what you have to do in this scenario: overcome all
the difficulties that the jungle poses on you and reach New Granada with as
many men as you can. Your goal in this scenario can be summarized in two 
words: EXPLORE and SURVIVE. Let me tell you, it's going to be very difficult 
for you to get out of the jungle alive. And, if you managed to do that, you will
probably have not enough men to attempt the conquest of any of the five Spanish 
settlements in New Granada (nowadays Colombia and Venezuela). These five
cities are: Barquisimeto, Valencia, San Jos, Margarita and Trinidad. They are
located exactly were they are in reality. That means that if you reach for
example, Valencia, Barquisimeto will be to the left, and Margarita to the right
(go get an atlas!). That's important information because it may save you some 
precious turns when looking for these cities.

Let me insist, however, that I would be surprised if you were able to conquer 
even one of the five Spanish cities. Being realistic, the objective for you in
this scenario is just to survive the jungle. If you manage to do that, you win
the scenario. If you are able to meet the conquest objectives built into the 
scenario (press F9), I take my hat off to you. 

Assuming you do not cheat, it will be more than likely that you have to play
this scenario several times before finding the sure way to escape the jungle.
To discourage cheating, cheat mode has been disabled. I know some people hate it
when I do this, but it is the only way I know to prevent people from spoiling
the game (well, at least those who do not know how to override the block).
More than any other scenario, "Eldorado" would be irremediably spoiled if you 
enable cheat mode or open events.txt before having played the scenario at least 
once. To warn is the only thing I can do, the rest is up to you.

As Aguirre tells us above, it took about one hundred days for the Maraones to
cross the jungle from west to east. You have a bit more, 110 (one day is one
turn). By the way, Aguirre's men called themselves the Maraones because they 
initiated their expedition by descending on boat the Maran river, an affluent 
of the Amazon in Northern Peru.

Aguirre and his men moved through the Amazonian jungle mostly by boat. Design 
constraints made me to put them ashore, walking over "Terra Firma". In any 
case the rivers will guide you, do not worry. You will be heading northeast.
It will not be easy for you to know when you have finally reached the ocean 
unless you pay attention to the terrain. If you are in an area totally made
up of river squares, that is (or tries to represent) the mouth of the Orinoco: 
you are out of the jungle!!! The Spanish cities will be on the left.




TIPS

(A VERY important section to read)

You begin the scenario immediately after Aguirre has killed all of the other
leaders of the expedition in search for Eldorado and Omagua. He is now the
one in command now. With him, second in command is his loyal dog Antn Llamoso.
With them, 30 Maraones: 15 harquebusiers and 15 pikemen.

Lope and Antn are the most powerful units in the scenario. Beware, if Lope is
killed in combat, you have lost the game and should quit (but see below under
'A few bugs'). If Antn dies, nothing really happens.

Remember: explore, explore... and do not get hurt!!! Because in the beginning
you have to move many units and there is not much else to do but waiting (the 
Maraones have no cities to take care of!), the first few turns might seem a bit 
repetitive and hence tedious. Be patient, anything can happen! As a matter of 
fact, if you experienced such a boredom that would be excellent --imagine what 
the stranded Maraones felt deep in the jungle, waiting for something to occur.

The two worst enemies of the Maraones were the fevers and the indians. That is 
adequately represented in the scenario. By the way, the indians cannot be seen, 
so do not be surprised if 'nothing' kills one of your units! That is historically
accurate; the indians threw their poisonous darts undercover by the dense 
vegetation.

In the absemce of indian slaves, explore with the pikemen. They have the highest 
defensive numbers; attack with harquebusiers. Keep your units as SPREAD as 
possible, you will see why I say this. When you acquire indian slaves, use them 
as scouts. They will not last long, so take the maximal advantage of their 4-point
movement allowance.

Research and happiness are not issues in this scenario. Do not touch the luxuries
rate, you really do not need that for anything. There are no wonders either.




A FEW BUGS

More than bugs, small annoyances - they do not seriously compromise gameplay.
There are a few of these in this scenario. If someone has any suggestion, please
send an e-mail. 

-The Amazonian rivers are full of ferocious anacondas. Problem is, they
never attack. I do not know why. If you spot one, ignore it, it's totally 
harmless.

-If Aguirre dies in combat you lose. Aguirre, however, might perish drowned, 
in which case you may continue playing. 

-If a Maran perishes in a flood before you have moved it for the turn, 
the game stops waiting for you to move that unit. But you can't, it's dead.
Just press the space bar and the game continues.

-If you lose all your Maraones, quit yourself the game. I tell you this
because the game will not do it for you. Due to design necessities, the game 
will not register that you have lost all your units, hence it will not run the 
"Lope will return" clip.

-If the scenario is played under Multiplayer Gold, Margarita and Barquisimeto 
(the only cities worth 3-points) are ignored as objective cities. 




THANKYOUS

This scenario owes much (much much) to Dan Scheltema. It was his wonderful 
"Slash and Burn" what inspired me to create yet another scenario (this one). 
I have stolen a lot of material and ideas from Dan's scenario. If you have not 
played "Slash" you are missing one of the best scenarios of all time. Go to my 
website, download it and play it. You will not regret it. Not at all.

Thanks a lot to those who tested the scenario and sent some feedback:
Dan Scheltema, Gerrie Hoost, Cam Hills, Mr. Temba, Mike Jeszenka, Dave Morovan,
Alfredo Barriocanal, and Jeff Lloyd.


THE SAGA CONTINUES...

As you may or may not know, I am dedicated to flood the net with Civ2 
scenarios about Spain, her history and legacy. Here is the list of those 
that I have completed to date: 

__"Spanish Pride, Iberian Pride"		(v4.0, October 7, 1998) 
__"Spanish Civil War. The Defense of Madrid"	(v2.1, November 2, 1998)
__"The Visigoths"				(v2.0, November 17, 1998)
__"The Conquest of Mexico"			(v2.0, December 12, 1998) 
__"Al-Andalus, the Trail of the Sun" 		(v2.0, May 9, 1998)
__"The Age of Philip II: the Time of Thunder"	(v1.0, May 4, 1998)
__"The Crimson Manuscript: War in Granada"	(v1.1, August 30, 1998)
__"Alba de Amrica"				(v1.0, October 12, 1998)

All of them are available for download at several websites, but I would 
like to invite you to download them from the Spanish Civilization II Site.
The URL address is:
 
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1514/Spaciv.htm





 
